When I researched the software I understood you could do a multicamera shoot and act as director later with up to 4 cameras. I'd have a switcher. This is why I bought this software.

So, your saying that function doesn't exist? I can only put it in the time line and do it manually?

Thanks
Nelson

For the multi-camera functionality, you need the Pro version of Vegas - not a "movie studio" version.

When I researched the software I understood you could do a multicamera shoot and act as director later with up to 4 cameras. I'd have a switcher. This is why I bought this software.

The pro version (Sony Vegas Pro) actually can do much more than 4 .. but the preview screen can get a bit crowded.

So, your saying that function doesn't exist? I can only put it in the time line and do it manually?

Yes, sorry .. this (very useful) function is not in any version of Vegas Movie Studio .. only Vegas Pro. (and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Pro Pack is NOT Vegas Pro)

Doing it manually isn't that difficult with the Studio versions. You can use track motion to reduce each video track to 1/2 size and move it into it's own corner. That way you can see all 4 tracks in the preview window at once. Keeping in mind that the tracks are visibly stacked from the top down, anywhere you don't want to see track 1 cut it away to expose track 2 underneath. To use track 3 cut away both 1 and 2, and likewise 1, 2 & 3 to see track 4.

If the Studio version has the track compositing envelope then this task is even more simplified as nodes can be added to the envelope to remove tracks without actually cutting the events.

In fact, until recently this is how it was done in the Pro version too.

Thanks everyone for all the responses.

Wow, I'm sooo disappointed! I was looking forward to doing 3 and 4 camera shoots in VMS and having a switcher. :(

I'm not prepared to invest in Vegas Pro. Thanks for all the tips on how to do it in VMS. I actually had a clue about this and would do as you have suggested, but I really wanted a switcher.

Does anyone know if it can be done in Elements? I don't think so, but maybe I got that software confused with other software.

Thanks
Nelson

For Pro functionality you need a Pro editor. Most consumers only have a single camera, so this advanced feature doesn't make sense on this class of software.

Eugenia:

That was well said and it makes a lot of sense too. To me this is a basic use of editing. I guess my background in television from 15 years ago has me thinking this is just regular editing. :) You may have convinced me to upgrade. I just don't have the money now.

Thanks everyone.
Nelson

Chienworks:

I'm rereading your suggestion and that is pretty clever. I reviewed some of the training video and I understand your idea. I'm going to try this. Give me a few days to do it and I'll report back. I don't have the time right now to try this technique.

Nelson

I guess i forgot to mention that after you've got all the "switching" done, you need to go back into track motion and set all the tracks back to full frame size.

For a description of several manual methods, you can also look at Vol 1 #9 of my newsletters. All but the scripting method will work in VMS.

I am disappointed too. I almost bought Sony Vegas Pro but talked myself out of it since I don't do a lot of editing...and haven't since getting Movie Maker 9 Platinum up and running several months ago. Of course yesterday I decided to do it right and shoot my son's choir concert with two cameras. I plugged into the sound system with the one and used it for mostly wide shots. A friend shot the closeups with the other. I imported them into Movie Maker. Dropped Cam 1 onto the timeline (with audio) and put Cam 2 in the trimmer...matched it exactly and then dropped only the video on to the timeline..and they match up..I thought it a simple matter to switch between the two. At least I found this posting (it was hard to figure out what to search under). I will try the manual method listed here...unless someone has some added suggestions...thanks.

"Movie Maker 9 Platinum"

That one made my day. ROFL

I will try the manual method listed here...unless someone has some added suggestions...thanks.

My first multi-cam edit was a 2 camera shoot done on VMS. One camera was a fixed wide shot and the other camera was free to zoom and pan (by the way .. BOTH cameras were mounted on the same tripod!)

For such an edit you really don't need to see the wide shot .. it's always the same. You can put the wide shot on the lower track, and the other cam on the upper track. You will see the upper track in the preview since it's on a higher track. When you find something you don't want on the upper track .. stop the playback .. make an edit to cut out what you don't want and leave the open space for the lower track to show thru (do not have auto ripple turned on)

Obviously you'll need to sync both tracks first. You can do hard cuts or you can do a fade out or fade in on the upper track for a disolve effect.

Arahant,
You can also download a FULL function trial of Vegas pro and see if it would be worth your money to upgrade, it does many more things than multicamera that you might find useful and you can also save some money when you upgrade from studio to PRO over the full retail price. Just a thought.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/trials/vegaspro

Paul B

I do three camera shoots all the time (school plays/musicals) with an occasional 4 cam shoot and use VMSP8 to edit.

Left stage close (me) - Track 1, Right stage close (assistant) - Track 2, Wide (static)- Track 3. If I do a fourth cam, it is center stage close (static), it goes on track 3 with the wide shot going to track 4. If I shoot by myself then it's just three cams, close, center, wide.

Sync tracks, slice and dice one track at a time (except for the wide shot), go back and choose what's best and what to throw on the floor (so to speak). Once you do it a couple times, it goes quick.

I always shoot two shows (if there are more than one) in case I have a hardware failure or operator error. To clean up coughs and other unwanted noises, I load the unused show and render it out as a wave file, load it into the project syncing as close a possible, two shows never have the same timing, mark the noises, then cut out what's needed and overlay it on top of the offending noise in the primary audio track.